Beyond the Break (BTB) has been operating on the Deepwater Champion (DWC) for almost a full year now. BTB’s engagement included the start up and successful operations in Guyana and now in the Gulf of Mexico. A joint P&A (Plug & Abandon) operation between Transocean and ExxonMobil. BTB’s Performance Coaches were in place even before the rig had officially changed hands to start building safety culture and high performing teams from the get go and help ExxonMobil to achieve their Vision of “Nobody Gets Hurt”.

The two key coaches tied to the project were Craig Churches and Colby Watkiss. Craig commenced at the very start and, amongst many things, implemented a new recognition initiative called the “BTB Boomerang Award”. Many are familiar with “Catch of the Week” style awards that are given to crew members who demonstrate an outstanding display of risk management. Chosen from the observation & intervention cards submitted, that capture and document these occurrences by the crew, at the end of each week.

The BTB Boomerang Award is similar but has a broader scope allowing the BTB Coach to reward any outstanding behaviour. For example, a big part of safety culture is leadership. The coach may observe something that is exemplary of a supervisor, or crew member, perhaps being a single observation or an overall consistent behaviour they exhibit. It is still also used to reward a “good catch” or outstanding risk management.

This allows the award to not only reward individuals that display positive behaviours but also highlight to the crew the types of things we look for in a “Safety Leader”. At the end of the day, behaviours drive good leadership, and leadership drives a good safety culture that delivers the performance we know can be achieved. The ethos of the Boomerang is essentially about return, which is what this recognition is all about. Providing to the initiator a, ‘thankyou’, for providing the leadership in positive behaviour.

One of the alluring components of this initiative, apart from special recognition at each Weekly Safety Meeting, is the prize of an authentic Australian Boomerang. As BTB is an Australian company, they are easy to source but have a high novelty value for crew teams on the DWC. An example of a BTB Boomerang Award Winner can be seen below.

BTB is always looking for new ways to sell the core messages of a safe working culture – and this is just one of them. If you’d like to see more about some of our innovative approaches, visit our website at www.beyondbreak.com or send us an email at info@beyondbreak.com.